Twin Cities Emergent Cohort

Twin Cities Emergent Cohort

1. submergent churches?
   testing
2. New Host for the Cohort's Blog
   http://www.twincitiesemergent.org/
   
   If you are still accessing this website for the blog, you should update your links. If you use the link above it will remain the same no matter where we move, but if your link comes here, you will be bored.
3. Wanna Do Some Weddings?
   Hey, cohort friends, I (Tony Jones) have signed up with Wedding Pastors USA to perform some weddings for non-church-going couples this summer. It's a ministry run by an Emergent-friendly friend of mine, Bill Yaccino (on staff at Willow Creek). He discovered that, although he'd been told by Christians to only marry other Christians, he was meeting lots of excellent and spiritually-interested couples by widening his mercy in this regard.
   
   So he started this ministry, and I'm the first minister in Minnesota to sign up. He needs a few more. He'll charge you $100 initially to get listed on the site and $50 referral per wedding (he recommends you charge $500/wedding). In MN, he says, you can do as many or as few as you want, guaranteed. He writes, "This would be perfect for a few hungry church planters - 10
   weddings or so a year would give them an extra $4000 and some real unchurched friends! Win-win."
   
   So, click if you're interested.
4. January 2007 Cohort Meeting
   

   January's meeting of the Twin Cities Emergent Cohort is coming up on January 18th (a Thursday)...at the usual time (noon) at the Acadia Cafe.
   

   This month, Corey Magstadt will share briefly about himself and the River Church. This will be followed by a guided discussion by Michael Binder (fellow cohorter, and newly appointed Director of Preaching at Bethel Seminary).
   

   Here's this month's topic:
   

   Preaching and Communication in the Emerging Church
   

   What is the role of preaching in the emerging church? Does the "old" ways of preaching need to be scrapped as we adopt new approaches? Or do we merely revamp the old? How do we understand the function of preaching within communities of faith in light of the emerging critique of modernist tendencies to divorce the medium from the message?
5. Emerging Women Midwest Gathering - March 16-18
   FYI...
   
   I Just got an email from Sarah Notton of the Indianapolis Emergent Cohort. She has news about the upcoming Emergent Women Midwest Gathering. Here's what Sarah wrote:
   
   

   Emerging Women Midwest Gathering

   Beyond the Castle Walls—Re-Imagining the Kingdom

   March 16-18, 2007

   Stronghold Conference Center

   Oregon, IL

   Emerging Women are gathering again this March in a castle retreat center outside of Chicago to "Re-imagine the Kingdom." This gathering is open to women of all ages and cultures, ministers and lay-persons, from all denominations, and at all points on their journeys of faith. You are invited to a weekend of reflection and worship, theology and praxis, teaching and learning, and (of course) friendship, food, and fun.

   
   

   We will explore the stories of women who re-imagined the kingdom by challenging the dominant assumptions of their cultures in order to serve God. We will re-imagine our worship as we explore our spiritual voices and how we connect with God. We will examine how the church is being re-imagined in our emerging, postmodern world. Our time there together will refresh us and give us a vision (a new imagining) for our spiritual lives as we serve in God's Kingdom.

   
   

   We invite you to add your voice to the conversation. We expect to learn from and encourage each other – through our stories, our knowledge, our questions, and our passions. This is a gathering of community and its outcomes will rest on what the community has brought to it.

   
   

   The Emerging Women Midwest Gathering will be held March 16-18 (Friday evening til noon Sunday) at the Stronghold Conference Center (http://www.strongholdcenter.org/) in Oregon, IL. Oregon is in NW Illinois, about two hours from Chicago. Limited airport runs from the Chicago area airports (Rockford, O'Hare, and Midway) will be provided. We will be staying in dormitory-style housing in a modern-day castle. The cost for the gathering is $140, which includes the registration costs, 2 nights lodging, 4 meals, and snacks. There are a very limited number of private rooms and family accommodations available (at extra cost), so please contact us as soon as possible if you require either. Some scholarships and student rates are also available and you are also invited to help contribute to the scholarship fund.

   
   

   Visit www.emergingwomen.us to register. We hope to see you at the castle. Help us out by spreading the word and let others know about this gathering. If you would like a file of the event brochure to print out for your church, school, or group please let us know.

   For more information contact –

   
   

   Julie Clawson -

   630.742.7443

   emergingwomen@gmail.com

   
   

   Sarah Notton -

   sarahnotton@hotmail.com